Luckily there ends up being a gravel driveway from the gate to the house, probably for carriages. While the sides are covered by plants there is a gap between them that is wide enough to walk down. Looking at the house which is at least half again the size of the last house I can't help but wonder if this was the governor's house.
Or maybe the mayor's, well whoever ruled the city at any rate, since it is by far the biggest and fanciest house that would make sense. It is four stories tall and completely covered in carvings and decorations. In my opinion it could do without the extra decorations, just the carvings would be enough to make it beautiful.
With all the extras added on it looks a little tacky, as if the owner only cared about showing off his wealth and power to his neighbors. Entering the house ends up being easy, since the front door isn't even locked. As soon as we enter we see a grand stairway dominating the entry hall, the kind I would see in mansions in old movies.
The entire room is designed to draw the eyes to the stairs, and whoever would be walking down them. Everything in the room is over the top as if the owners wanted to crush their guests with wealth. I already don't like whoever owned this house and I am tempted to just skip it.
However, I know that if I do I will always wonder what I might have found in here. Sometimes having strong curiosity is really a curse, so I may as well just explore the place now. Before I get started, I notice the entryway is clean, there isn't a spec of dust anywhere.
That is something I haven't seen in the other houses, it must mean the enchantments on this house are still working. Hopefully the defensive enchantments are only on the outside of the house. Keeping my guard up just in case I start by exploring the ground floor.
The main floor consists of the entry hall, a dining hall, a grand ballroom, and a massive kitchen. The kitchen is what interests me the most since everything is still in working order, there is even a stocked pantry. It is curious since it is full and everything is still fresh, so I spend some time examining it.
It turns out that when the door closes it completes a circuit that activates a stasis spell. Meaning time only flows inside while the door is open, so everything in here is still fresh and usable. Since it hasn't been that long since breakfast I leave the kitchen for later and move to the last door on this floor I haven't opened.
When I open the door I find a set of stairs going down into the basement. When I reach the bottom of the stairs I freeze and immediately tell Bones to take Kechara back upstairs. I was expecting to find a wine cellar, but instead I find myself looking at a full on torture room.
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The place gives me a bad feeling and what fur I have left is all standing on end. I even see a few flickers that look like ghosts so I slowly back up the stairs. Once I am back on the ground floor I close the door and pile up furniture in front of it.
Wishing I had some kind of sealing or locking spell I quickly move away from the door taking Kechara and Bones with me. I am now convinced that whoever owned this house was a monster. I was really hoping that this race was better than humans but it turns out they were just as depraved.
Again, I think about ending my exploration here, but in the end I decide to continue. After all that should be the worst thing I am going to find in the house, at least I hope so. Moving up to the second floor using the grand staircase I start searching room by room.
The first half of the floor that I search is nothing but bedrooms, and since they aren't anything fancy I figure they were guest rooms. When I move on to the other half of the floor the first door I open leads to a large study. Seeing a bookshelf with a few dozen books I am glad I decided to continue exploring.
Grabbing the first book and opening it I see a completely foreign language. Since that is exactly what I was expecting I don't hesitate to grab all the books and put them in my pouch. When I have time I will use them to start figuring out the language, for now I continue exploring.
Since the study is the first interesting room I have found I take my time and search it thoroughly. I find a couple more books in the desk which get added to my pouch, I also find a writing set that I feel mana from. After studying it for a minute I find that it never runs out of ink and can create ten pages of blank paper per day.
Having something on hand to write with might come in handy so it also ends up in my pouch. Not finding anything else of interest I leave the study and move towards the next door in the hallway. Opening the door I find a lavish bedroom, and from the choice of colors I can tell it belonged to a woman.
After all, the huge canopy bed has gauzy pink curtains draped all around it. When I spot the stuffed animals on the bed I think that this room must have been for a daughter, at least I hope so. I don't even want to think of another reason to have a room for a female child in the house.
Since it is a kid's room I only give it a short search before closing the door and moving on. The next room is another bedroom, and from the armor hanging on a stand I am guessing a teenage boy's room. Walking over to inspect the armor I find myself impressed, while it is obviously for training it is very high quality.
It is also enchanted to prevent the wearer from being seriously injured, but it does allow minor injuries. I decide to take it with me, while it is too small for the girls I am thinking Vacker can use it for his students once he finds some kids to train. Since it allows small injuries it is perfect, if it prevented damage completely then it would make the user overconfident.
Finding a couple more books on the desk I grab them before moving on to the last door on this floor. It is a large double door so I am expecting it to be the master bedroom or something of that nature. To my surprise it is another study, but this one is decorated with stuffed beasts so I am thinking it is more of a man cave than a study.